(Done) Haar&Cain:Level 4 friends (unlock tragic backstories)

Bernadette nodded a few times, a smile spreading across her face. She began wondering where exactly she could take them, but she knew she should probably stick to someplace close or even just the house. All at once, her eyes widened, her smile grew and she clapped her hands.

"What about the attic? Can we go up there, Miss Prudence?"

Prudence, though confused at first, realized why she wanted to go up there after a moment. "Ah, yes. I don't think Rufus dear would mind that. Do be careful, though."

Bernadette nodded quickly and took Haar's hand with both of hers, momentarily lost in her excitement. "Come on! Let's go up to the attic!" She pointed to the staircase that went up three flights and lead to Rufus's part-spiral-staircase-part-library which would lead them to the attic.

Bernadette couldn't blame Haar much for not knowing about Rufus's standard of living. He acted like a simple but suave farmer when in reality he was from one of the richest (maybe /the/ richest!) families in Thanksgiving Town, and heir to the entirety of the responsibility and fortune. Not that he wouldn't divide it among his fifteen (was it fifteen? or was it sixteen? She couldn't remember) siblings, but that he was in charge of it. "Yes! He's the future Harvest Lord, after all." She was a bit confused because Rufus told her that Haar was the nephew of the Pumpkin King-- didn't that mean he had lots of nice things, too? Maybe it worked differently in Halloweentown?

Bernadette laughed! If only Haar had seen the state most of the house had been in before she moved in! She nearly had a panic attack when she first saw the unused parts of Rufus's house!

"Well, Daddy isn't very good about keeping things clean, so when I first moved in, I had to clean it up! He helped, of course, but mostly he tried to just keep me out of the unused portions of his house. He'd put bookshelves and things in front of doorways so I couldn't go in and he'd put big banners and flags and such over hallways so I didn't try to look at more of the house than was necessary. It wasn't until Miss Prudence moved in that we finished cleaning it all," she explained. "He's really bad about clutter, mostly, and he had tons of books (32,692 books, to be exact. I counted.) and not enough shelves. Anyway, after we finished cleaning he started pulling out these expensive-looking decorations that he'd had hidden away in the attic and we went to work. So... yes."

She bit her lip when she realized how long she had talked. Dear God, Bernadette, are you trying to bore him to death? Well, he was already dead (or dying?? She had no idea.), but the frustration at herself still remained. "But, uh, what's your house like?" she asked nervously as they finished climbing the third flight of stairs. This put them on a large floor with a room at the end of the hallway where a majority of Rufus's books were located. They surrounded a spiral staircase on round bookshelves that were as tall as the ceiling.

Bernadette: "I see," she said distantly, peering around at all the books and watching him look through them. She laughed nervously at his 'not having a brain' comment, unsure if it was a joke or not. She thought about asking, but she didn't want to seem rude. What was it like to live in a place where art wasn't appreciated? In Thanksgiving town, nearly everyone had fine art in their home. It's part of what separated a house from a home- she knew interior design well enough to tell you exactly why, too.

She looked up the spiral staircase for a moment. "Okay, we're almost there, Uncle," she said before taking a few steps. "The attic is up here and if you're interested in the rooftop balcony, there's a ladder for that when we get up there." Climbing the steps quickly, she waited to make sure he was behind her before pushing open the trap door to reveal a room covered in dust. There were sheets on the furniture, giving them a ghost-like look, and there were even a few bats in the corner, sleeping upside down near the ladder to get to the roof. More books lined one wall, but what she realized at the last second was that Haar would be much more interested in the opposing wall where stack upon stack of framed, fine art leaned against the wall. There were also old storage chests propped open with vases, candlesticks and other knick-knacks sticking out in an orderly fashion toward the north wall. Everything in this room was a Cornelius family heirloom, even the books and the furniture covered in sheets. The bats not so much, but Rufus never came up here to shoo them away, and Bernadette had grown fond of them.

She cleared her throat after a moment. "Feel free to look at whatever you'd like," she said as she crossed the room to straighten the furniture and some askew books.

Bernadette: "Oh! That's a cornucopia," she explained. "Sometimes it's called a horn of plenty. It's based around a legend of Amalthea... the... nurturing goddess? Who was a goat?" she looked over at him, unsure if he was still following or not. "It was said that she broke her horn off and it would never empty of what the baby Zeus needed." At his look, she quickly said, "It's just a legend, anyway. It's a symbol of an abundant harvest."

She kicked the ground, sending dust into the air before she tucked her hands into her pockets. She always felt like she was over-explaining eve-- ever-- ev-- She sneezed, distracting herself from her thought. This dust! She scowled at the ground and tried to restrain herself from marching down all four flights of stairs and seizing some cleaning instruments to clean every inch of this place, top to bottom.

Bernadette: "Oh, that's the rooftop balcony! You can see the entire town from there!" She strode over to it and looked up to see that it wasn't locked. Good. "Would you like to take a look?"

Bernadette: "Yes! You can see everything from there!" She nodded and excitedly began climbing the ladder, pushing the door open when she got to the top. She stood in the center of the balcony for a moment, breathing in the Autumn air. The massive expanse of Rufus's farm stretched on in one direction, revealing acres upon acres of wheat fields, corn fields, and general gardens, all preceded by thousands of various animals in the distance. Red, brown and yellow trees stretched in all directions, and in the opposite direction of Rufus's farm, the town was in view, separated from the tepees and other Native structures by only a town square. Smoke from various fireplaces floated toward the sky in various places in the woods and in the towns. Bernadette spent a lot of time up here. She couldn't really explain her love of high places, but it probably had to do with the fact that she was so short.

"What do you think?" she asked after snapping back into reality.

Bernadette: She grinned, happy that he enjoyed it like she thought he would. At his offer, she was a bit nervous, but was also curious. Did he bring up his castle because this reminded him of it, or just because he wanted to repay her for the sight? Halloween Town had always alluded her, but she supposed most people had a hard time understanding why being scared was a good idea for a holiday.

Bernadette blinked at him several times. "View it... closer?" Did he mean going to town? If so, she did that everyday. Or did he mean an aerial view? If that was the case, she HAD thought about that many times, but Miss Prudence said it was too dangerous for her to fly her around... "Do you mean like... fly?" she asked excitedly. "I've asked Miss Prudence many times but she said no. I've always wanted to see it closer!" Wait, he COULD fly! He had floated earlier to get the spices! She put her hands on her cheeks, excited now. "Can you do that??"